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Golf: Jack Nicklaus has Tiger Woods' back on penalty ruling at Masters

Associated Press

Posted:
04/24/2013 09:30:38 PM PDT

Updated:
04/24/2013 09:30:39 PM PDT

Jack Nicklaus thinks Tiger Woods got the proper ruling at the Masters. However, he's not so sure he agrees with the slow-play penalty given to 14-year-old Chinese phenom Guan Tianlang.

Woods' third shot on the par-5 15th in the second round hit the flagstick and ricocheted back into the water. He took his drop from 2 yards farther back -- contrary to the rules -- from the spot where he hit originally, and ended up making a 6. Tournament officials later said he deserved a two-stroke penalty for the violation, but not disqualification.

"Could they have disqualified him? Probably," Nicklaus said Wednesday. "But you've got all the best rules heads together, and they said that they thought there was no intent to do anything (improper) and that two strokes was a strong enough penalty. And you move on."

Nicklaus, a winner of 18 major professional championships to Woods' 14, said he didn't blame Woods for not disqualifying himself.

"Should Tiger have withdrawn? I don't think so," Nicklaus said. "If Tiger did that, he'd be putting himself in a position of saying, 'I'm above the rules.' You accept the ruling whether it's good or bad."

Nicklaus wasn't so certain about the one-stroke penalty given to Guan for slow play during the second round at Augusta National.

"He's in the eighth grade! The eighth grade and he's playing in the Masters!" Nicklaus said, smiling. "And he gets a penalty? Can you imagine giving a 14-year-old kid a penalty for slow play?

"There's hundreds of guys who are much slower probably than (he was), and they figure out a way to get away with it."

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Guan, who received a late-hour invitation to play in New Orleans this week, accepted the penalty without complaint.